Late Afternoon Illumination

If you ever have a chance to spend a day in a southern Zambia village these are a few of the beautiful images that will become etched into your memory.

But stick around until the shadows grow long and you will see the place in the best light. Literally.

It’s the time of day when thoughts turn to food.

There’s sure to be a place nearby where dinner ingredients can be purchased.

I love the way this woman displayed dinner options for her customers. What will go into the cooking pot tonight? Big fish, or maybe just a little one? If this customer would make up his mind she could join the women behind her in a lively conversation about the day’s happenings.

The last rays of warm sunshine are pleasant. The baking midday sun has cooled, and the chill of night is yet to come.

The day’s work is done, and there is time to just hang out, visit with neighbors, or even make friends with a curious stranger.

Even time to pose for a snap.

Jesu Ulandiyanda, Jesus Loves Me. The paper visors carry the message of the classes the children attended earlier in the day. When they wear the visors will they be reminded of our visit, just as these images remind me of my late afternoon walk?

The fire begins to draw people together.

These are good moments.

There will be cabbage with the nsima this night.

The Zambian sunsets are spectacular. I remembered that. But returning after a three year hiatus opened my eyes to just how special the last light of day can be. Lingering alpenglow in the east casts a warm light. More subtle than the western sunset, but just as enchanting, I looked forward to it every evening of this visit. How could the beauty of these few moments have escaped my eye in all my previous trips?

Once awakened to it, it’s become impossible to ignore. Beauty missed before is now glaringly obvious.

While I am perplexed at the idea that I have been carelessly unobservant of this beautiful light phenomenon, I’m also excited by the discovery. There are new delights to partake in, even in the familiar. Every day is a chance to see things in a new way, discover things previously unknown. Each new day holds possibility for more awakenings, for greater illumination of spirit.

If I am blessed to return to Zambia, and once again bask in the last light of an African evening, I will certainly be attentive to the beauty of that special light. The real question is, can my walk home from school be as enlightening as my walk through Mulamfu village? Will tomorrow’s sunrise light the way for discoveries, or will it find me preoccupied, unaware?

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